Wall St rises as technology shares gain

US stocks have opened higher as technology shares showed signs of recovery following a sell-off in the past two weeks that was triggered by worries over increased regulations.

Shares of Facebook, Apple and Alphabet were up between 0.15 per cent and 1.3 per cent, driving a 0.4 per cent gain in the S&P technology index.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were on track to log their worst quarter in more than two years on concerns over a global trade war and interest rate hikes, as well as a rout in technology stocks caused by Facebook Inc's data scandal.

"We've gone through a period of increased volatility and one with competing narratives - the bond market is telling us something about the economy and the stock market is concerned about valuations in technology shares," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in Boston.

Spooked by brewing trade tensions and a broad reversal in technology shares, global investors have cut their equity exposure to a four-month low in March, while reducing their holdings of US stocks to the lowest in nearly two years.

At 9.52am local time on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 129.06 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 23,977.48 and the S&P 500 was up 8.78 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 2,613.78.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 4.21 points, or 0.06 per cent, at 6,945.01.

Amazon fell 3.7 per cent after President Donald Trump blasted the company with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to rein in the company's growing power using federal antitrust laws.

The S&P consumer discretionary index was the only loser among the 11 major S&P sectors.